ACBL tourneys: directors and subs problems

[epeeist]

This is about two separate problems which seem to have happened in ACBL tourneys recently: lack of directors and (possible problem, maybe just me) a sub issue. Hopefully raising both matters doesn't make my post less clear. :P

 

On Friday after midnight (so technically Saturday morning) I logged on to BBO -- it was about 12:06. I noticed that there were two red "sitouts" in the ACBL individual, so I registered as a substitute.

 

Soon one of the players (who had no partner, i.e. at a "sitout" table) sent a message to the lobby "adv sub needed for indy ACBL tourney, pls join as sub". I inquired of the only "ACBL" profile online at the time whether or not non-advanced "intermediate" players such as myself would be useful as subs, as otherwise I wouldn't bother, but was informed that that TD was dealing with the pairs, not the individual.

 

So there seems to have been no ACBL TD for the individual, which is a problem in itself. I had entered an ACBL individual earlier in the week with no TD, and had had to send a message to a yellow before an "ACBL" TD eventually came online. I didn't complain at the time because I thought it was an isolated incident. However, for this particular tournament I wasn't an entrant so I suppose it's up to a player to complain.

 

At about 12:15 there were still two red "sitouts" so I guess no one chose me as a sub for 9 minutes. That's fine, my ego is healthy enough to deal with rejection :lol: but I'm wondering whether it was fair to OTHERS at the table for people to let 9 or 10 minutes run down waiting for the "perfect" partner to register as a sub. Especially when they were waiting for someone who would only be their p for a round.

 

If there was a TD who let that happen, fine. If not, it's an example of why TDs are needed even if people can choose their own subs -- so that opponents can, if need be, object to the failure to choose a sub for a lengthy period of time. I've done that myself on occasion, when an opponent lets several minutes go by without choosing a sub.

[Gerardo]

Please report to a yellow if a tourney has no working TD.